'Gejok Lesung' goes to festival in Gunungkidul

'Gejok Lesung' goes to festival in Gunungkidul

Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta

It was Saturday evening in Legundi hamlet, Girimulyo village,
Panggang sub-district, Gunungkidul, on the Karst mountain range
some 40 kilometers southeast of Yogyakarta. By this time of the
evening, people normally have already gone to bed after a long
day's work. Only the sounds of crickets and other nocturnal
animals are heard.

That night, however, was unusual. Under the moonlight and the
light of thousands of torches, villagers were gathering in front
of a building belonging to the Sanggar Besetran art workshop.
Many of them wore traditional Javanese attire, a surjan shirt for
men and kebaya (fitted long-sleeved blouse) for women. None wore
shoes. They were ready to join the first ever Gejok Lesung
Festival held recently.

"This is the first time that Gejok Lesung has joined a
festival, the first in Gunungkidul, the first in Yogyakarta
province," said Andri Tri Laksana, chairman of the festival's
organizing committee, referring to the traditional music that is
played with the equipment used to pound rice.

Lesung in Javanese is a wooden receptacle, which looks a bit
like a boat made of a whole trunk of teakwood with a hollow in
the upper side, usually used to pound and hull rice, using a
gejok or wooden pestle. A lesung, normally of some three meters
long, 60 centimeters wide, and 70 centimeters high, can
accommodate up to six pounders, usually women, at a time. While a
gejok is usually some two meters long.

According to villager elder Wukiran Dwijomulyono, the gejok
lesung is rarely seen at present, which accounts for why it is
also difficult to find someone who can play the traditional
music. "The lesung has been replaced by the rice mill. As a
consequence, gejok lesung is also disappearing," Wukiran said.

gejok lesung music emerged as a side result of the rice-
pounding activities in the villages, explained Wukiran. It was
initiated when workers would wait for the rice from the rice
fields. To kill the time, they played with the equipment by
pounding the gejok into the lesung and produced beautiful music.
As the music came from the gejok and the lesung it was later
named gejok lesung.

"That was how the music was born," Wukiran said.

In addition, according to Wukiran, there is also a myth that
lives on within the Javanese community regarding the music's
origins. According to the myth, the music came into existence
when a giant named Kalarau was going to swallow the moon while
the moon's guardian Nini Thowong had fallen asleep. In order to
wake up Nini Thowong to save the moon, villagers repeatedly
pounded the lesung. As the myth goes, Nini Thowong finally woke
up and shot the giant with a bow and arrow until its head was cut
off.

"That explains why in the past our ancestors used to play
gejok lesung every time there was a lunar eclipse," Wukiran
explained.

The festival itself, according to Andrie, was moved by the
concern that the music is going into oblivion and that the
younger generation, in particular, no longer recognize its
existence. "In fact, I feel the music is really enjoyable,"
Andrie said, explaining why the festival was conducted.

As many as 10 groups gejok lesung musicians participated in
the festival. Each group was required to play Bulolok Tibo and
another traditional composition such as Ceplesan, Wayangan,
Jathilan, Kebo Ilang, or Kodok Ngorek.

That night, not long after the sound of the last Muslim
prayer, Isya, was heard from the nearby mosque, the first group
came forward and played followed by other groups. Loud applause
were heard every time a group finished its performance. Many in
the audience danced or moved to the music.

The audience stayed until the last group finished its
performance at almost midnight. For the audience, who were mostly
young people, it was a new experience. Most of them acknowledged
it was the first time that they had ever heard such a
performance.

"Through the festival, hopefully, we can preserve traditional
music," said Andrie, adding that the committee planned to conduct
the festival periodically, annually if possible.

Head of Gunungkidul's Culture and Tourism Office Sutikno, who
was also there among the distinguished guests of the festival,
welcomed the effort, saying that such a tradition needed to be
preserved not just for the sake of the tradition itself, but for
the tourist industry.

"Unless such a festival is conducted, it will be difficult to
find the tradition in the community these days. The world is
changing. No one is pounding rice using gejok lesung today, as
there are numerous rice mills," Sutikno said.

In the future, the gejok lesung festival hopefully will be
included in the province's tourist calendar of events. That way,
tour agencies will hopefully also bring in more tourists to the
region to enjoy the tradition as well as other attractions of
Gunungkidul. "Hopefully, in turn it will contribute a great deal
to the local economy," he said.